Hi everyone!
Well, I am a total shortarse, for a guy. I'm 5'3", 150 lbs. (probably a pebble or two in English measurement) and I have a 29" inseam. Being short affected me a lot when I first got into riding, but I am over it for the most part. It still might affect the bike I buy, but not so much that I wouldn't buy exactly what I wanted.
When I first got into bikes, I got the Ninja 250 (1999) which back then had a 29.5" seat height. It's an inch taller now, but that was a very easy bike to foot, but no flatfooting for me.
I learned that the seat height is just one factor...seat width plays a lot into how easy it is to foot a bike depending on the frame-layout and such. For instance, I had a 2005 R1 and that was very easy to foot because of the narrow, waspish waist, but the R6 from the same year was much wider at the seat due to frame spars going round the engine instead of over the top. The R6 was much harder for me to ride than the R1, oddly.
The Gixxers are narrow too, and I've had a 2007 Gixxer 600 and my current, a 2009 Gixxer 750. Very easy for me to ride with no suspension mods to make it lower. Hell, even when I get new tires I lose a tiny bit of height.
A few indignities of being short are having to move your bike around at certain times whilst off the bike, due to a lack of leg to push a bike back or move it on gravel. I also have to be very careful where I step, such as not stepping into a pothole at a stop, or even riding on the highest part of a crowned road and stepping into the 'low' areas could prove hazardous. Once all that is second-nature, it's not a big deal, but it's a big deal for the shorter rider just starting-out.
I have a whole vlog on this on my YouTube channel, called Motorcycles and the Short Rider or somesuch, where I share a lot more of my thoughts.
Great site here.
Spacep0d
